


Still Awake

by americanphancakes



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, It's the little things, Love, M/M, Returning Home, Sleep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-14
Updated: 2019-06-14
Packaged: 2020-05-07 13:45:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19210651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/americanphancakes/pseuds/americanphancakes
Summary: Dan comes home one night from a stressful trip and Phil is still up.





	Still Awake

**Author's Note:**

> Based on something my husband said to me on Tuesday night after I got home from a stressful business trip. It felt right to post it tonight after Dan's video, for some reason.
> 
> Unedited and unbeta'd, just a quick little scene I decided to write. Please forgive any poorly-written bits (which is probably most of it).

Dan walked into the apartment, dragging his heavy rolling suitcase behind him. He was exhausted. It was one in the morning at this point, so perhaps it seems to the untrained eye as though Dan’s desire to flop into bed should be perfectly natural. But Dan was a night owl. One A.M. was early evening as far as he was concerned. But the train ride had been exhausting, the visit to his family home had been exhausting, the argument with the lady at the ticket counter, and he just wanted to go to sleep. Normally he’d still be awake but tonight, sleep seemed like the best idea.

 

Seeing Phil on the sofa, lazily watching television, Dan smiled. It was good to be home.

 

“Hey you,” Dan said.

 

“Dan!” Phil said, quietly but happily, clearly tired. His face lit up ever so slightly, but that did little to hide the bags under his eyes.

 

“You look as tired as I feel,” Dan said with a bitter chuckle, rubbing his face with both hands and trying to keep his eyes open.

 

“Rough trip?”

 

“Yeah. And you? You look a bit peaky.”

 

Phil smiled. “Yeah,” he said. “Haven’t been feeling a hundred percent today, so I had a bit of a nap earlier, like at 9 I think? I could have slept all night, to be honest, but I wanted to stay up” -- Phil interrupted himself with a yawn -- “so I could say hi when you got home.”

 

“You stayed up for  _ that _ ?” Dan said. He played up his disbelieving tone to make it sound like a joke. That was the best way Dan could think to disguise his genuine shock that Phil would give enough of a shit to do such a thing.

 

“Yeah,” Phil said, as though it were the most obvious and natural truth. “‘Course I stayed awake for you. I can’t just let you come home to a dark and quiet apartment. Would be creepy. You hate the dark. Besides, I wanted to see you. I missed you.”

 

_ I stayed awake for you. I missed you. _

 

It was such a simple thing, making sure he was awake when Dan got home. So why did it make Dan’s heart ache with happiness? Why did it make him feel so calm he was almost excited by it?

 

Dan’s face relaxed to something calm and bright. The sort of face you only ever make when you know everything is okay. It wasn’t a face Dan made often, and the relaxation of his facial muscles was almost alien to him. He knew Phil cared about him, obviously, but it wasn’t something he could really fully accept down in his heart of hearts. Not usually, anyway. Sometimes, though, Phil would do something like this and, for a brief and beautiful moment, Dan would be able to internalize that he was loved. For one moment, Dan knew without a doubt that he mattered to someone. The feeling would fade, yes, but lately it took longer and longer for that to happen. After all this time, even Dan’s rebelliously cynical mind had started to admit that perhaps Phil wasn’t faking it to shut up Dan’s whining, nor was setting out to make Dan feel better by engaging in cliche romantic gestures. Phil just genuinely enjoyed Dan’s company, genuinely wanted him to be safe and happy.

 

Dan tried to think of the right words to say to express how grateful he was that Phil would stay awake for him. To explain how warm it made him feel. To repay that kindness of making sure he wasn’t alone when he got back. To make it clear how much more at home he really felt when Phil was around.

 

There was only one thing he could think to say.

 

“Come on, you lazy git. Let’s get you into bed properly. If you get me sick, I swear I’ll never talk to you again.”

 

Phil chuckled and got up. “Fine,  _ mum.” _ He turned off the TV and led the way to the bedroom.

 

Dan, the tiniest smile on his face, shut off the lights as they left the room. He followed Phil to bed, where they snuggled and slept soundly.

 

And the next day, they both felt better.

**Author's Note:**

> @americanphancakes on tumblr


End file.
